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Nietzsche, Friedrich
Nietzsche, Friedrich Born Oct. 15, 1844, in Röcken, near Lützen, Saxony; died Aug. 25, 1900, in Weimar. Germanphilosopher; representative of irrationalism and voluntarism; poet. Nietzsche studied at the universities of Bonn and Leipzig. From 1869 to 1879 he was a professor ofclassical philology at the University of Basel. His creative activity was interrupted in 1889 bymental illness. Nietzsche abandoned classical philology for philosophy. He was influenced by A. Schopenhauer, aswell as by Wagner’s aesthetics and art. In his first work, The Birth of Tragedy Out of the Spirit ofMusic (1872), which was devoted primarily to an analysis of classical tragedies, Nietzschedeveloped the idea of a typology of culture, which had been suggested by J. C. F. von Schiller, F.W. J. von Schelling, and German romanticism. He compared two principles of being and culture:the “Dionysian,” or “vital,” orgiastic and violent, tragic principle; and the “Apollinian,” orcontemplative, logically articulated, strictly intellectual principle. Nietzsche saw the ideal in abalance between these polar principles. The Birth and Tragedy contained the seeds of Nietzsche’steaching on being as spontaneous becoming. This teaching was later developed into the doctrine ofthe “will to power” as the yearning of every living being for self-affirmation. It was also expressed inNietzsche’s Utopian philosophy of history, which sought the ideal in pre-Socratic Greece. Nietzsche’s conservative, romantic ideas and his voluntarism (Untimely Meditations, 1873)predetermined the philosopher’s development toward irrationalism. His use of the essay form for hisearly works was indicative of this trend in his development. Structurally, the works Human, All-too-human (1878), The Dawn (1881), The Gay Science (1882), and Beyond Good and Evil (1886) arechains of fragments or aphorisms. Nietzsche’s philosophy also found expression in poetry, legends,and myths (for example, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, 1883–84). He endeavored to overcome therationalism of the philosophical method, presenting his concepts not as a system but aspolysemantic symbols. This is true of his concepts of “life” and the “will to power” (being in itsdynamic quality), passion, the instinct for self-preservation, and the energy moving society. Nietzsche’s philosophy combines heterogeneous, often conflicting motifs into a whole that is oftendifficult to unravel. His anarchistic criticism of modern bourgeois reality and culture is expressed ina universal despair in life, a despair recognized by Nietzsche as a manifestation of “nihilism.” In hismyth of the “overman,” or “superman,” he presents the cult of a strong personality who overcomesthe bourgeois world individualistically, operates beyond all moral norms, and is extremely cruel. Butthis cult of the overman is combined with the romantic idea of the “man of the future” who has leftbehind the contemporary world with its sins and falseness. In trying to affirm the existence of a “natural,” completely unfettered course of life in opposition toexisting social relations, Nietzsche undertook an ultraradical critique of all values, includingChristianity (The Antichrist, 1888). He attacked democratic ideology for reinforcing the “herdinstinct,” and he preached aesthetic “immoralism.” Nietzsche’s world view approached the fin-de-siècle mood of “decadence” (neoromanticism, literary impressionism). This tendency is especiallynoticeable in his lyric poetry. Although contradictory and defying the unity of a system, Nietzsche’s philosophy influencedvarious trends in 20th-century bourgeois thought, including the “philosophy of life,” pragmatism, andexistentialism, each of which has its own interpretation of his thought. He exerted considerableinfluence on turn-of-the-century writers, both in Germany (S. George, H. Mann, T. Mann, H. Hesse,and G. Benn) and in other countries—K. Hamsun (Norway), A. Strindberg (Sweden), A. Gide(France), U. Sinclair and J. London (USA), and Iqbal (India). He also influenced the Russiansymbolists V. Ivanov, A. Belyi, and V. Briusov. His work, which was essentially a revelation of selfand an affirmation of the tendencies of bourgeois culture in the epoch of imperialism, was aprototype of reactionary tendencies in 20th-century philosophy, politics, and morals. The ideology ofGerman fascism used Nietzschean philosophy. Beginning with F. Mehring and G. V. Plekhanov,Marxist philosophers have sharply and consistently criticized the ideas of Nietzsche andNietzschean philosophy. WORKS Werke, vols. 1–19. Leipzig, 1903–13. Vol. 20 (index). Leipzig, 1926. Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe in 30 Bd., vols. 1—. Buffalo, N.Y., 1967. Gesammelte Briefe, 2nd ed., vols. 1–5. Leipzig, 1902–09. In Russian translation: Poln. sobr. soch., vols. 1–9. Moscow, 1909–12. REFERENCES Davydov, Iu. N. Iskusstvo i elita. Moscow, 1966. Vertsman, I. E. “Estetika Nitsshe.” Problemy khudozhestvennogo poznaniia. Moscow, 1967. Oduev, S. Tropami Zaratustry. (Vliianie nitssheanstva na nemetskuiu burzhuaznuiu filosofiiu).Moscow, 1971. Mann, T. “Filosofiia Nitsshe v svete nashego opyta.” Sobr. soch., vol. 10. Moscow, 1961. Faiginger, G. Nitsshe kak filosof. Moscow, 1902. Trubetskoi, E. N. Filosofiia Nitsshe. Moscow, 1904. Bertram, E. Nietzsche. Berlin, 1918. Jaspers, K. Nietzsche, 3rd ed. Berlin, 1950. Wolff, H. M. Fr. Nietzsche: Der Weg zum Nichts. Bern, 1956. Kaufmann, W. Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist. New York, 1956. Heidegger, M. Nietzsche, vols. 1–2. Stuttgart, 1961. Pütz, P. F. Nietzsche. Stuttgart, 1967. Ries, W. Grundzüge des Nietzsche-Verständnisses in der Deutung seiner Philosophie. Maulburg,1967. Reichert, H. W., and K. Schlechta. International Nietzsche: Bibliography. Chapel Hill, N. C, 1968. Müller-Lauter, W. Nietzsche. Berlin-New York, 1971. A. V. MIKHAILOV